An ink cartridge which is engaged with an inkjet printer mainly comprises a storage cavity for storing ink, an ink outlet for supplying ink to a printhead of the printer, and a detection component for detecting the ink cartridge installation and the residual ink volume. For the sake of guaranteeing the normal operation of the ink cartridge after the ink cartridge is installed into the printer, the ink cartridge must comprise two detection mechanisms. When the ink cartridge is installed into the printer, firstly, one detection mechanism disables light transmitted by a transmitting part of a second sensor on the printer to return to a receiving part of the second sensor; secondly, with the ink cartridge installation, the light transmitted by the transmitting part of the second sensor could return to the receiving part of the second sensor; thirdly, the other detection mechanism disables light transmitted by a transmitting part of a first sensor on the printer to return to a receiving part of the first sensor; and finally, the light transmitted by corresponding transmitting parts of the first sensor and the second sensor could not return to corresponding receiving parts of the first sensor and the second sensor, and the ink cartridge installation detection is completed herein, then the printer prompts to carry out the next operation. The technical measures for detecting the ink cartridge installation and the residual ink volume are as follows: the detection mechanisms of the embodiment mainly realize the detection by blocking light transmitted by sensors, and the operating principle of the detection mechanisms is as follows: when the ink cartridge is installed into the printer, firstly, light transmitted by the second sensor in the printer is blocked by a light-tight second signal blocking section; secondly, the light transmitted by the second sensor is not blocked by the light-tight second signal blocking section while light transmitted by the first sensor is blocked by a first signal blocking section; and finally, the light transmitted by the second sensor is blocked by a light-tight third detection component and the light transmitted by the first sensor is blocked by the first signal blocking section, and herein the printer prompts the existence of the ink cartridge and the admission of the next operation. The third detection component consists of a light-admitting part and a light-tight movable member; the position of the movable member is varied with the ink level in the ink cartridge; and the ink level in the ink cartridge can be detected by the fact that whether the light transmitted by the second sensor is blocked by the third detection component or not.
For example, the patent CN200710159947.7 discloses a known recording device. Moreover, the device can determine the type of another known ink cartridge according to the varied light intensity. More specifically, when the ink cartridge is installed into an ink cartridge installation section, the recording device checks the existence of a signal blocking section of the ink cartridge and determines the type of the ink cartridge according to the fact that whether the ink cartridge is provided with a signal blocking section or not. The recording device of the ink cartridge with the structure is allowed to accurately determine related information of the ink cartridge irrespective of the speed of installation of the ink cartridge into a printer by a user. Moreover, whether the user begins to insert the ink cartridge into the printer is not considered, and partial ink cartridge is dismounted before the ink cartridge is finally and completely inserted into the printer.
Two signal blocking sections of the ink cartridge with the structure can selectively prevent signals from passing through the signal blocking sections or change the path of the signals. Moreover, the second signal blocking section has thickness. When the first signal blocking section begins to block a first signal or change the path of the first signal, the thickness determines whether or not the second signal blocking section blocks a second signal or changes the path of the second signal.
Therefore, as the thickness of second signal blocking sections of different types of ink cartridges in an ink cartridge set is different, different types of ink cartridges must be installed with second signal blocking sections with corresponding thickness to form complete ink cartridges during the production and installation. Once the ink cartridge installation error of an ink cartridge occurs, the printer will detect the information not matched with the actual information of the ink cartridge.